Trip Report *COMPLETED* When We're Together - December 2021

"Sure it's nice to open a gift that's tied up with a perfect bow. But the greatest present of all was given to me long ago. It's something I would never trade, it's the family that we've made. 'Cause when we're together, I have everything on my list. And when we're together, I have all I've wished. All around the Christmas tree, there'll be dreams coming true. But when we're together, then my favorite gift is you."

"When We're Together" has held a special place in my heart since the first time I watched "Olaf's Frozen Adventure." It is even more special now that we have the gift that we prayed and wished for, for so long. I am so beyond thrilled to be preparing to take our son on his very first Disney trip, and I can't wait to take you all along with us!

Who: By this point, many of you know me (Katie) and my hubby Jason

And now we have a little sidekick, our son Lincoln! He will be six months old on this trip.

We will also be meeting up with some of my extended family while we're down there! My "Disney Aunt and Uncle" - they are FL residents and DVC owners; their son (my cousin) and his wife, and their son who is 8 months older than Lincoln. Not sure if I'll be posting any pics of the family on here, but you'll here about them I'm sure, so we'll call them Aunt D, Uncle B, C (my cousin), E (his wife), and CT (their son).

When: Saturday, December 11th - Thursday, December 16th! We normally do our holiday trip the week after Thanksgiving, but we postponed it this year so that we could meet up with the fam while they're down there.

Where: Pop Century! Remember when I said that I didn't think Pop was worth the extra money over an All Star Resort?

We did enjoy the Skyliner for getting to/from HS and Epcot, although I don't know that it's really worth the price jump from the All Stars to Pop.

Yeah, I ate my words as soon as we started planning this trip. We want to be on the Skyliner route, since you can push a stroller right onto the Skyliner. I wouldn't be surprised if we drive to AK and MK to avoid lugging a stroller onto the bus!

Why: A lot of people are probably questioning why anyone in their right minds would take a six-month-old to WDW. Well, first of all, I never said we were in our right minds. In all seriousness, this is something that we had discussed long before we even got pregnant. We've known for a while that our child would grow up going to WDW at least once a year (as long as we are able to financially make that happen ), so we never saw the point in waiting until they were "old enough" to go on their first trip. We've always said that we wanted to wait until our first child was at least six months old before taking them for the first time, and Lincoln will be conveniently turning six months old on December 5th. Not to mention, he'll be essentially free! No, he won't remember this trip, but Jason and I will never forget it. Plus, that's what photos and videos are for!

We've set our expectations for this trip basically on the floor. If we get on one ride at each park, great. If we have to cancel our dining reservations and eat at the Pop food court every night, no biggie. We know we'll be spending less time in the parks than we have in the past, we're just excited to be going back! By the time we go back, it will have been a little over a year since we returned from our last trip. This is the longest we've gone between trips, so we are ready to be back in the Disney bubble!

Up next: Dining reservations and general plans

 

[k8einwdw]

Tuesday, December 14th - Hollywood Studios Day - Continued

After we left HS, we took the Skyliner back to Pop so that we could rest and get out of the heat for a bit. We had a 5pm dinner reservation at Homecomin', so around 3pm, we decided to head over to Disney Springs so we could shop for a bit beforehand. While we were there, we admired some of the themed trees in the Christmas Tree Stroll. I can't decide if I like it better this way, where they're all scattered throughout DS, or the old way, where they were all on one trail.

I recently saw a YouTube video of a lady that had a recreation of this Mickey topiary/fountain by her pool. Major backyard goals for sure!

Lincoln dropped while we shopped.

We made our usual Disney Springs rounds. At World of Disney, we got Lincoln a onesie and shorts outfit, and one of those cute little blanket baby plus toys. At Basin, "Santa" got a few things to put in my stocking. Surprisingly, we didn't get any ornaments at Disney Days of Christmas. They didn't have any of the ones we were looking for. At Joffrey's, we picked up a couple bags of coffee. We had to stop in the Marketplace Co-Op to check out the Vault collection. We bought a lunch box, a mug, and the Mickey back scratcher.

Some of the cheesy (in the best way) Disney Springs holiday decorations....

We checked in for our dinner reservation at Homecomin', and took a seat on a ledge outside the restaurant while we were waiting. Remember this for later. After a few minutes, they texted to say that our table was ready. We were seated in the outdoor covered patio. For drinks, Jason got the Sweet Tea Shine. I think I just got a Coke. I didn't take a picture, but for our appetizer, we got the Bunch of Puppies for our appetizer, and they were just as good as we remembered from our September 2019 trip! For our dinner, Jason got the Fried Chicken Sandwich, which he really enjoyed. I got the Thigh High Chicken Biscuits off of the appetizer menu, and a side of the Mac and Cheese. Both were excellent. Lincoln got a side of mashed potatoes, and shared some of my mac and cheese. Surprisingly, he was not into the mashed potatoes at all. He had only been eating solid foods for a little over a week at that point, so I think the texture weirded him out. I'm sure he'd like them now - Jason and I both tried them, and they were delicious!

After we finished eating, our server brought us the bill. I opened the diaper bag to grab our Disney gift card out of my wallet, and my wallet was gone. Remember how I said earlier that we sat on the ledge outside the restaurant while we were waiting for our table? When we checked in, I still had my wallet in my hand from when I had just purchased our coffee from Joffrey's. I needed to grab something out of the diaper bag, so I set my wallet down next to me. When they texted to say that our table was ready, I left my wallet sitting on the ledge. Thankfully, Jason had his wallet on him, so he paid for the meal with his debit card, but I felt like the biggest dummy. After we paid, I checked with the host stand to see if anyone had turned in a wallet. Nope. They told us to check with Guest Services. Thank God a nice person found my wallet, because they turned it in to Guest Services. Crisis averted. Someone could have easily taken the gift card out, and gone on a shopping spree with the spending/dining money we had been saving up for months.

After we collected ourselves and my wallet, we drove back to Pop for the night. Lincoln enjoyed some of the Disney Bedtime Stories on tv before getting ready for bed. It had been a heck of a day, and we were all ready for a reset.

Up next: Our last park day

 

[mpaulam]

Thank goodness for honest people!
And now I'm hungry I had to have the chicken and donuts when we went, and we each had a few drinks. Homecomin' is definitely on our list of places to return to!

 

[k8einwdw]

Thank goodness for honest people!
And now I'm hungry I had to have the chicken and donuts when we went, and we each had a few drinks. Homecomin' is definitely on our list of places to return to!

Homecomin' has quickly become one of our favorites too!

 

[k8einwdw]

Wednesday, December 15th - Epcot Day

We awoke bright and early, thanks to this cute alarm clock I made...

At 7:00, I purchased LL entry for Ratatouille for early afternoon. This was the one day we actually had a chance to make rope drop, since Epcot didn't open until 11:00 (10:30 for onsite guests). After L's first nap, we headed out and got on the Skyliner. Once we got to CBR, we were put in a cabin with another group of 3 (all adults). This is the first time we'd had to share a Skyliner cabin, I'm assuming it's because they were trying to get as many people as possible through the line for rope drop. Based on the time stamp on this picture, it looks like we made it into the park shortly after 10:00 - success!

We were both in need of some caffeine, so J got in line for Joffrey's. He got each of us a Shakin' Jamaican cold brew. Maybe I'm losing my mind, but I remember the Shakin' Jamaican having caramel and vanilla in it once upon a time. Maybe I'm thinking of another Joffrey's drink...I didn't end up finishing mine, since it was just a black cold brew coffee. J spotted a sign for a seasonal coffee on his way out of line, and we were both disappointed that he hadn't seen it before he placed our order.

Since our Ratatouille FP LL wasn't until later in the day, we decided to bypass World Showcase for now, and head to Future World. We thought L might enjoy the Seas, so we hit up Nemo first. He didn't care much for the ride itself, but he loved the aquarium section. If you've read any of my WDW TRs, you know we always have to say hello to Lou and Lil Joe.

After our visit, it was time for a bottle. As you can imagine, L was a little distracted in here.

After his bottle, he sat and watched the scuba divers cleaning one of the tanks for a while. One of them even waved to him!

It was a little after 11:00 by the time we headed out of the Seas. L was getting sleepy, so we put him in the stroller, and he was out in no time.

While he was sleeping, Jason and I hit up Mouse Gears' far inferior replacement. The Mickey mural is cute, but you can't beat Mouse Gears. I know we bought some stuff, but I'll admit I don't remember what we bought.

Prince Charming awoke from his beauty rest right as we were leaving, so we decided to hit up another ride - of course, he had to do Spaceship Earth on his first trip!

I tried to hold him up next to my face for the picture, but it didn't work. Based on the other people around us, it looked like the pictures weren't working at all that morning. L did enjoy looking around at everything on SSE, and especially enjoyed the hanging lights at the end when you're going backwards.

Up next: Rat patootie

 

[k8einwdw]

Wednesday, December 15th - Epcot Day - Continued

This one is going to be text-heavy...I didn't take a lot of pictures this afternoon.

After finishing up in Future World, we headed over to World Showcase. I am a firm believer that one must always start in Mexico, but I broke my own rule for this trip. Our LL return time for Rat (I'm not spelling out that entire word every time) was coming up, so it only made sense to start in Canada. We stopped for a moment to watch the music group that was performing in Canada, and then kept on trucking. We wanted to stop in the toy shop in the UK pavilion, but alas, it was closed. L's playroom (aka the unorganized toy and outgrown baby gear storage zone) is Winnie the Pooh themed. I use the term "themed" very loosely here - we have exactly one Winnie the Pooh sign hanging up on a wall, and two pictures that have been waiting to be framed for months. Anywho, we would like to get some of the Winnie the Pooh plush that look like the book characters, not the movie/tv/theme park characters. We thought we'd try there. No such luck.

We continued on to the France pavilion - it was time! Jason and I had been singing "Remy the Ratatouille, the rat of all my dreeeams!" all day (please tell me someone else gets that reference). We were excited to finally see the new section of the pavilion, and of course excited to ride a new attraction for the first time!

We both thought that the new area was so well done! We did not take any photos on the ride - it's a 3D ride, not sure how well those would have turned out anyway. I also strapped L into the baby carrier to go on the ride, since I had heard that it was a little jerky - it was not as jerky as MMRR, but I definitely felt more secure having Lincoln strapped to me, rather than sitting in my lap. Jason and I enjoyed the ride - it's cute, it's fun, and the ride vehicles are adorable. L wasn't so sure what to think, but you also can't put 3D glasses on an infant, so I'm sure he was confused about what he was seeing. We liked it, but is it a must-do for us every time? Probably not, especially once L gets older/bigger and can ride more attractions at Epcot.

After we got off of Rat, it was around 1pm, and both of the adults were starving. J really wanted to try Regal Eagle for lunch, since we had not been there, so we power-walked through the Morocco and Japan pavilions, and headed straight for Regal Eagle. We both got the brisket sandwich meal, and we wanted to try a handful of the sides, so I ordered mac and cheese with my meal, J ordered baked beans with his, and we got an extra side of onion rings.

We both really enjoyed this meal! The meat was tender, the garlic toast made for a great bun, and the mac and cheese was delicious. I offered to share some with L, but he was a little preoccupied...

As we were finishing up our lunch, the heavens opened, and it started pouring outside. Like sideways rain. We stayed inside the restaurant until it slowed to a drizzle (it was not crowded at all, otherwise we would have gladly given up our table once we were finished eating). I really wanted to get a chocolate crinkle cookie from the festival booth in the USA pavilion, so we stopped over there before heading out of the pavilion. We decided at this point to head back to the room for a break, and come back later to finish up the World Showcase.

Around 4 pm, we hopped back on the Skyliner, and headed back to Epcot. We decided to make a full lap around the World Showcase, since we had really only spent time in the USA pavilion. I only have one picture from our evening, but we spent our time leisurely strolling around the World Showcase, stopping in some of the shops along the way. While we were in Japan, the holiday storyteller was out, so we stopped for a few minutes to watch her performance.

She is one of our favorites, along with La Befana in Italy, and Father Christmas in UK, neither of which we saw this trip. I had been hoping to get some of the festival foods for dinner while we were in Epcot, since the only thing we had gotten from the festival all day had been my cookie earlier, but J was still hungry from lunch, so I settled for some chicken nuggets from the Pop food court for dinner after we returned to the hotel that evening. After we put L to bed, we packed up our suitcases, and tried to get as organized as possible in preparation of leaving the next morning, before going to bed ourselves.

Since I didn't have many pictures from the second half of our Epcot day, I asked J if he had any. He sent me these two pics from when we took L on SSE. His forehead looks so different now!

Up next: Our check-out day

 

[erstwo]

View attachment 631232

Those eyelashes!!! Such a cutie!

My husband has eyelashes like those - luckily he passed them along to our kids. Meanwhile, I have to pay a lot of money to have eyelashes like that!

I am a huge classic Winnie the Pooh fan - I actually went to visit Winnie and friends in NYC last week (they're kept in the NYC Main Library), but the exhibit was closed most of the week (I was so sad. Pooh used to be always on display in the Children's Library but in recent years they moved him and the whole gang into the special exhibits section, so whenever they update or maintain the special exhibits, he's not able to be viewed.) BUT I did see that they had some beautiful classic Pooh plush in the gift shop and I googled just now and it looks like they can be purchased online - just FYI!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

. L's playroom (aka the unorganized toy and outgrown baby gear storage zone)

I’m glad you have that contained to just one room. we have several unthemed free-for-all rooms at this point

Anywho, we would like to get some of the Winnie the Pooh plush that look like the book characters, not the movie/tv/theme park characters.

Especially for decorating I like the look of the classic Pooh stuff better.

 

[k8einwdw]

Those eyelashes!!! Such a cutie!

My husband has eyelashes like those - luckily he passed them along to our kids. Meanwhile, I have to pay a lot of money to have eyelashes like that!

I am a huge classic Winnie the Pooh fan - I actually went to visit Winnie and friends in NYC last week (they're kept in the NYC Main Library), but the exhibit was closed most of the week (I was so sad. Pooh used to be always on display in the Children's Library but in recent years they moved him and the whole gang into the special exhibits section, so whenever they update or maintain the special exhibits, he's not able to be viewed.) BUT I did see that they had some beautiful classic Pooh plush in the gift shop and I googled just now and it looks like they can be purchased online - just FYI!

I'm so jealous of his eyelashes! And thanks for the tip, I'll check out their website!

I’m glad you have that contained to just one room. we have several unthemed free-for-all rooms at this point



Especially for decorating I like the look of the classic Pooh stuff better.

We finally got rid of some of the stuff L has outgrown this weekend - my brother and SIL are having a baby in August, so we passed off his bassinet, swing, and play mat to them, and that room looks a little less hectic now! But we also have a huge bin of assorted toys in the living room, and there are always some scattered on the couch, so we're not exactly organized over here.

 

[k8einwdw]

Thursday, December 16th - Check-Out Day

Alright, time to get this TR wrapped up! L and I were up at 6 this morning (after being up from 2:20-3:00 am...I don't miss those days). I got him changed and fed, and when J woke up, we worked on packing up the room. J went down to Bell Services to borrow a luggage cart, so we could load everything up in the car. We've never been luggage cart people until this trip, but WOW, we had to pack a lot of stuff for Lincoln. Hoping to travel a little lighter the next trip.

We had a 9 am breakfast reservation at Boma, so we were hoping to leave the room by 8:15 so we could get the car packed up, return the luggage cart, and make it over to AKL in time for our reservation. While Jason and I were loading up the luggage cart, we let Lincoln play on one of the beds...rookie mistake. All of a sudden, we hear a thump and then Lincoln screaming. He'd fallen off the bed. I ran over and scooped him up, and Jason and I took turns holding him and comforting him until he calmed down. I know it happens to every kid at least once, but man, it makes you feel like a crappy parent. We monitored him for any abnormal behavior throughout the day, and he was perfectly fine, but we both just felt awful.

Once everyone had gained their composure, we put L in his stroller while we finished loading up the luggage cart, and then headed out to the car to pack up. We played a crazy game of Tetris to try to get everything in the car, and then returned the luggage cart and headed over to AKL. We were walking into the AKL Lobby at 9:05 - so we were late, but not TOO late.

We were seated a few minutes after we checked in, and we both ordered some POG juice and coffee, before taking turns going up to the buffet. Jason hung out at the table with Lincoln while I grabbed food for L and myself...

L got to try some pancake, scrambled eggs, and his favorite...watermelon. J and I both had a handful of things, but my favorites at Boma are the scrambled eggs with goat cheese, the spiced "potato barrels," and the bread pudding...yum!

Our server came over to refill our coffee and chat with us about our trip, and we mentioned that it was L's first trip. He returned a few minutes later with this adorable mini cupcake. I normally don't let L have much in the way of sweets, but it was such a nice gesture, and L had had quite the eventful morning, so I let him try it. I wish I could post video in here, because J took the cutest video of L trying the cupcake. He took a tentative taste of it, and then looked up at me as if to ask, "Are you sure I'm allowed to eat this?" Once I'd reassured him, he dove right in!

After we finished eating and settled the bill, we strolled around outside with L for a bit to let him see some of the animals, before heading out to our car a little after 10:00. It was a loooong drive home. The drive home always seems longer, but L was also teething, and very cranky. We did stop at Buc-ee's to stretch our legs and grab some food on the way home...

And by the time we made it over to my parents' house to pick up Max and got home, it was time for one cranky little boy to go to bed.

And that's a wrap on our December 2021 trip! Thank you all for following along, I will add my final thoughts in another post.

 

[k8einwdw]

Final thoughts

Hotel - Pre-Lincoln, I didn't think that the price difference between the All Stars and Pop was worth it for access to the Skyliner. Now that we have a stroller, it's totally worth it! So much easier to push a stroller right onto the Skyliner, vs having to fold it up to go on a bus or in the trunk of the car to drive to the parks. Pop is a really solid choice if you want to save a little money.

Crowds - We normally go the week after Thanksgiving, but moved this trip out a couple weeks, so that we could be down there at the same time as my family (that worked out so well for us). I felt like this week was a little more crowded than previous trips.

Weather - The past few years traveling the week after Thanksgiving, we had pretty cool weather, and it was downright cold early in the mornings/late at night. Cooler weather makes for a much more pleasant experience walking around all day in the parks. This trip, it was HOT. Like it should be illegal for it to be so hot in December.

Genie+ - We bought Genie+ as part of our package, and while it was nice to have access to the Lighting Lanes, it wasn't worth it for this trip, when we only made it on 2-3 rides per day. We're hoping on future trips, we'll be able to do more attractions with L and get our money's worth.

And for the big part, traveling to WDW with a Six-Month-Old - We knew that doing Disney with a baby would not be easy, but I don't think we were prepared for how different it would be. When you have a really young child, routine is everything. Going to WDW completely threw off our routine, and it made for some challenges. A day or two after we'd returned home, I remarked to Jason that this was the first time that I didn't feel really sad when we got home from WDW. I've heard people say there's no such thing as vacation when you're a parent, you're just parenting in a different location, and I think that sums it up perfectly.

Jason and I are so fortunate to be able to say that we went to WDW 10 times just the two of us (and 3 more times with family), and DLR 2 times, between 2014-2020. We had established a really good rhythm on our Disney trips, and we knew our way around. Going to Disney the first time as parents really threw us for a loop. We weren't able to make rope drop most days because of L's nap schedule, we had to stop multiple times throughout the day to give L a bottle, I had to pump in the middle of the day, and we had to be back in the hotel room by 7pm to get L bathed, fed, and ready for bed by 8pm. I think some of these things will be different on our next trip, as L is now older, not needing to nap as often, and not needing to take a bottle as often. We'll also have some extra hands on our next trip!

Do we regret taking L when he was six months old? Not at all. Since he was born, it felt like we faced challenge after challenge - jaundice, colic, acid reflux, and the biggest challenge of all, Craniosynostosis. So many things were out of our control, and there was this dark cloud looming over his first 8 months of life, as we awaited his surgery date. Going to Disney felt like we finally got to do something we wanted to do, something that we had planned to do since before he was born. It was so special to be able to introduce him to the place that means so much to us, and holds so many of our favorite memories. Now, would I recommend for Disney first-timers to take a 6-month-old? Heck no. We missed out on a lot having a baby in tow, but there will always be future trips for us.

Speaking of future trips, we do have one booked! So we obviously enjoyed our time enough to want to do it again! It is coming up pretty soon, so expect to see a Pre-Trip report from me soon! As for now, thank you all so much for following along on this trip, and most of all, for caring about our family. I treasure the friends I have made here, and it means so much that a group of Disney fans on the internet were thinking of and praying for us as we went through Lincoln's surgery. Truly, from the bottom of my heart - thank you all.

 

[cgersic]

This has been such a great trip report to follow along with! I'm so happy that things have improved for Lincoln's health and that you were able to have such a nice trip with him! Thanks for taking the time to write this for us and I can't wait for the next one!

 

[Swissmiss]

It was really interesting to read how different this trip was for you with Lincoln; although I never brought my daughter to WDW as a baby, I did travel with her to other places and I too tried to keep her schedule as much as possible (sometimes the trips were in different time zones which makes that impossible). I tend to suspect that many babies and young kids that can be observed having meltdowns at WDW are not being kept to their normal schedule and they are just exhausted and out of sorts.

The cupcake picture is really cute - he looks like he did indeed enjoy it.

Can’t wait to read about the next trip

 

[MickeyCB]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I know these reports take a lot of time and with a little one and the added challenge of surgery it is particularly appreciated.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

I’m so glad you had a good although different) trip. It truly is nice to have gone so many times that this and future trips aren’t so high stakes.

Hope Lincoln is continuing to heal well and thanks for sharing your TR.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us! Each stage of childhood brings about different challenges while traveling, but you learn quickly to adapt and roll with the punches!! I'm so glad that Lincoln is doing well post surgery! I can't wait to hear about your next adventure!!

 

[Spash007]

Thank you for sharing! I loved your comment about traveling with a 6 month old. The fun part is that as you adapt as parents and as he grows, you’ll get so many firsts and also have each trip be different than the last!

Also, don’t feel bad about the bed. That may have happened to me at the Poly, and 2 years later he’s still fine

 

[Katiekitten]

Thank you for sharing! I will look out for your pre trip report!

 

[amjt660]

Great TR - thanks for bringing us along for the ride


Max

 

[Darstarr]

This was such a great TR. Your little family is beautiful and I can not wait to see your next adventure!

 

[youngdeb]

Thanks so much for sharing! Even though the trip was different than what you have been used to, you made some wonderful memories